Fleet
Royal Navy
Ship Type
Battleship
Nickname
–
Ship Class
Orion
Grouping
2nd Battle Squadron
Command
Grand Fleet
Builder's Yard
Thames Ironworks and shipbuilding Company
Budget Year
1909
Construction Notes
Cost £1,892,800. By £1,000 the most expensive ship of the 1909 Super dreadnought building programme. The last vessel to be constructed by the Thames Ironworks and shipbuilding Company who declared bankruptcy after she was completed
Date Laid Down
13.04.1910
Launch Date
01.02.1911
Completed date
–
Commission date
–
Year laid down
–
Year launched
–
Year completed
–
Commission Year
1912 (May)
Pennant No
–
Photo Details
–
Related stories
Part of the 1909 shipbuilding programme compromise - Orions part of 4 ship 1910 prograamme with four more in 1911 ("We want eight and we won't wait")
Sister ships
Monarch, Thunder, Conquerer
Eventual Fate
Turned into a cadet ship and sold for scrap
Jutland result
At 18:30 while deploying Thunderer did not open fire. She was at the rear of 3 ships. At 19:15 sighted enemy ships between Iron Duke and Royal Oak. When she opened fire, she actually fired over the Iron Duke. At 22:40 Moltke managed to get past the four Orions without being challenged or fired upon.Only fired 37 rounds of CPC. No secondary gunnery was used.
Ready for action after dock repairs
–
Commander
Captain James A. Fergusson
Noteable Officers
–
Crew complement
–
Officers
–
Ratings
–
Killed
–
Wounded
–
Prisoners
–
Displacement full Load (tons)
25,870
Artefacts Data
–
Ship's Model
–
Length (ft)
581'
Length (mtrs)
177
Beam (ft)
88'
Beam (mtrs)
27
Draught (ft)
24'
Draught (mtrs)
7.3
Max. Speed (knots)
20.79
Range (miles)
11,700 km at 10 kts
Range (kilometres)
–
Fuel
–
Propulsion
4 Parsons team turbine engines heating 18 Babcock and Wilcox boilers driving 4 shafts. Rated at 27,000 shp.
Armour Main Belt
12" waterline belt
Deck Armour
4 armoured decks - upper and main 1.5" and lower 2.5"
Turret Armour IN CM
11" on face
Conning Tower Armour
11" fore and tapering to 3"
Barbette Armour
–
Weight of armour
–
Armour / Displacement Ratio
–
Watertight compartments
–
General Notes
Single tripod to only carry a small extension mast to use for the radio antennae.
Fire Control Table
Dreyer Mk 111
Fire Control - Clock
–
Primary Gun calibre
BL 13.5" Mk V guns (342.9 mm)
No. Primary Turrets
5
Guns (No.barrels)
10
Primary gun layout
–
Rounds per main gun
–
Effective broadside guns
–
Primary shell Weight (inches or cm)
1,266.5 lbs (APC), 1,250 CPC and HE
Primary Broadside Weight
–
Secondary Gun Calibre
BL 4" Mk VII guns
Guns (No.barrels) 2
16
Rounds per secondary
6
Other Armament
four Single 47 mm (1.9”) 3-pdr guns
Elevation (degrees)
–
Gunnery Range (yards)
24,000 with 349 lb charge and 20 deg
Gunnery Range (metres)
–
Rate of Fire (rds per minute)
–
Shells expended Main
–
Mines dropped
–
Shells expended Secondary
–
Torpedoes fired
–
Gunnery Notes
First ship to carry Percy Scott's Director System. She scored top in the 1912 Firing trials. But the tripod was set behind the fore tunnel consequently very often blacking out view from the Conn as well as often making if difficult to work with the heat and fumes.The problem was only half solved with the fore tunnel taking steam from 6 boilers while the aft funnel took it from 12. Barrels wore out after 450 rounds.
Torpedo Type IN
21” ( 533 mm) Whitehead
No. tubes
3
Torpedo Type MM
–
No. Mines
–
Torpedo Notes
submerged
References & sources
–